Communication Accommodation Theory- American History X

CAT- American History XIn this paper, I will use CAT (Communication Accommodation Theory) to explain how convergence, divergence, and intergroup contact are illustrated within the film American History X.Convergence in CAT refers to the accommodativeness, the process concerned with how we both reduce and magnify communication differences between people in interaction. Talking about convergence, people tend to enhance interpersonal similarities and reduce uncertainties. The effect of converging towards or approximately to another can increase liking and enable him or her to be seen more competent and credible. It includes switching to the other’s language or dialect, or assuming the same level of the other’s interruptions, speech rate, posture and so forth. When engaging conversation, if the individuals or in-group identity is viewed more than the out-group identity, there will be convergence and higher communication relational satisfaction. In the film American History X, there are several examples help to illustrate the concept of convergence: Firstly, the attitude and the way of thinking towards Derek are influence by his father who is being murdered and killed by two black people during his duty as a firefighter. In one of the flashbacks in the film, Derek’s family gathered around at the dinner table, Derek mentions his black teachers, Bob Sweeney, who assigned the class to read a book which is written by an African American author. Derek’s father disapproval the book because he is personally having dissatisfaction about his job with two black people got approved to his team. He explains the facts of how the black people in their society and neibourhood would threaten their life and verbally assume Derek is supporting his point of view. All these influences Derek after his father died. He starts to believe that the problems of the society is all race related. Started from that point, Derek strongly stereotypes his ethnic identity because of his father’s prejudices towards the minorities in his society and the reason for his father’s death. His convergence mixed with stereotyping leads to over accommodation which is viewed as disrespectful to his whole family both verbally and nonverbally. Second example of convergence is another flashback in the movie. Derek along with his brother Daniel and girlfriend Stacey gathered a large group of white racism gangs in the parking lot. Derek was having a speech to the whole group about the new immigration and unfairness about the distribution on the resources towards whites and other ethics. After the speech, they destroyed a market which the owner is an Asian. They almost broke everything in the store and beaten up the people inside. The whole actions show that the group of white gangs is trying to show their strong social power to those who has lower power in the society. Besides, the group of white gangs tends to converge to signal their common ethnic and social identities. In another flashback scene, when Derek was in the prison, he tried to find the group who has the similarity with him base on the tattoo on his body. He lay down and worked out in the area where the others ethic prisoners were staying and he threaten them away. Finally he found the group and he is one of the in-group members. Here Derek tends to converge as he wants to gain approval by a group of people with similarity in the prison. He also wants to develop a closer relationship with the other members in his in-group that he didn’t meet before. After three years, Derek gets released from the prison. Daniel’s appearance changes to a younger version of Derek, with shaved headed and tattoo. Derek seems to be frustrated about the tattoo on Daniel’s arm as he thought it would be a bad idea for Daniel to follow his steps and get involved all those racism stuffs. But Daniel says “I thought you would like it!” Daniel tends to converge to gain approval and trust from his brother, he tends...

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...COMMUNICATIONACCOMMODATIONTHEORY
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It’s also called the CAT
◦ …. But not this kind of cat
CAT?
When speakers
interact, they adjust
their speech, their
vocal patterns, and
their gestures to
accommodate others.
What influenced the birth of the
theory?
Social Identity Theory
A theory that proposes a person’s identity
and is shaped by the groups to which he
or she belongs (Tajfel & Turner, 1970).
CommunicationAccommodationTheory
In-groups
◦ Groups in which a person feels he or she
belongs.
◦ In groups include family as well as people of the
same race, culture, gender, or religion.
Out-groups
◦ Groups in which a person feels he or she does
not belong.
◦ For out groups, an individual feels contempt,
opposition, or a sense of competition.
In group and out group formation and ingroup/out-group bias may affect a number of
group phenomena such as prejudice and conflicts
between groups.
Founder of theory
•
•
•
•
Howard Giles is a professor of communication at the
Department of Communication, University of California, Santa
Barbara. He was the chair of the department from 1991 to
1998, and has been president of both the International
Communication Association and the International Association for
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He is the founding...

...﻿CommunicationAccommodationTheory 1
Running head: CommunicationAccommodationTheoryTheory of CommunicationAccommodation
Kennesaw State University
Melinda Sykes
CommunicationAccommodationTheory 2
Introduction
Verbal behavior is an active lifestyle that individuals use to convey messages. This are of communication involves a multitude of approaches, both in a behavioral sense but also a social psychological approach. Our behavior alters our environment with or without our permission. Therefore, speech is an integral part of the communicationaccommodationtheory because pitch, volume, tone and many others is said to cause a shift in ones behavior. In 1987, Giles & Wiemann explained communicationaccommodation as a theory that examines underlying motivations and consequences of shifts in verbal behavior. This theory attempts to explain why people accommodate or adjust to another’s speech and the need to gain approval or maintain social identity with whom they are speaking with. The theory’s assumptions are that perceptions of another’s speech help individuals to evaluate and behave towards that person.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the...

...CommunicationAccommodationTheoryCommunication between two people from different groups is often accommodated in the way of speaking to gain approval. Howard Giles first introduced this theory in 1973 and it has been held true since (Griffin, 2012, p.394). His theory specifically focuses on the nonverbal adjustments of rate of speech, pauses, and accent. Giles and other communication scholars believe that communicationaccommodation is used to seek appreciation of those from diverse cultures or groups. The process of interweaving the speaker’s style to the label they have been given is the CommunicationAccommodationTheory.
CommunicationAccommodationTheory (CAT) states that people alter their communication to others for various reasons. One reason is to seek approval from the listener. Another is to maintain a positive social identity and have efficient communication. According to Howard Giles, people accommodate their speech and behavior more often around people who have higher attraction or hold similar beliefs and attitudes to the speaker. He suggests that people use perception and evaluation in conversations, meaning they observe and interpret messages to determine their actions or attitudes in a conversation...

...CommunicationAccommodationTheory (CAT) states that people adjust their communication to others due to various reasons: seek for listener’s approval, maintain positive social identity and wanting to achieve communication efficiency. According to Giles, people accommodate their speeches and behaviors more to the people they found attracted to and who have more similar beliefs and attitudes with them. Giles suggested that people use perception and evalution in conversations, which means people observe and interpret message before they decide how to act in a conversation. Moreover, people who has a lower social status is often more likely to accommodate to and guided by people who are from higher social status. People also perform their behaviors according to norms and appropriateness, where they try to reach the expectations of behaviors in conversations. CAT suggests several ways when people adapt during conversations: convergence, divergence and overaccommodation. People may adjust themselves in order to highlight similar behaviors to others or distinguish themselves from others. Convergence is a strategy used to adapt another’s behaviors. Usually people converge toward stereotypes. Divergence is used to emphasize differences between communicators. It is a way to maintain one’s social identity and power status. Overaccommodation means to overdo in regulating to others even acting from good intentions....

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Before the attack on Pearl Harbor the United States agreed not to get involved in any part of the disagreements between the quarrelling countries. While the United States decided not to get entangled into any conflict, World War II was just beginning, this made our neutrality as a country more difficult. However, once the United States saw how Britain and the Soviet Union were suffering from fighting with the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), America felt compelled to help their allies in some way without physically entering the war. “America decided to aid their allies (Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union) by sending weapons, money, and food overseas to help in any way they could.”
During the time that America was aiding their allies, Japanese armies were...

...white people. This could be due to the increasing population of African slaves in the South. By 1760, the number of Africans in the English mainland colonies had approximately a quarter of a million, and the vast majority of them lived in the south (Text page 59.) The African Americans were outnumbering whites in some areas. They feared that without slaves, it would be necessary to recruit a servile white workforce in the South, and that the resulting inequalities would jeopardize the survival of liberty. One of the ironies of the American Revolution was that many white Americans were fighting both to secure freedom for themselves and to preserve slavery for others (Text page 117.)
In conclusion, slavery was an opportune labor force, and more beneficial economically. The decrease in population of indentured servants exacerbated the situation, and as time progressed, slavery became more and more inevitable. Morality among the labor force was not taken into consideration, due to the fact that the settlers viewed slavery from an economic point of view, rather than a humanitarian point of view. Due to the practice of slavery in the south, in my opinion, encouraged and developed racism towards African Americans, whom the southerners and others found inferior.
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...Covey, after being mistreated for far too long.19 It also allows him to eventually save up money and run away from the life of slavery.20Intellectual resistance ultimately enables him to write a narrative of his life and experiences as a slave to be published and read by many.
All of these resistances are effective and meaningful to some extent, some more so than the others. The intellectual resistance of learning to read and write, and then later putting these skills to use, is the most meaningful and effective because it was the catalyst to Douglass’ desire to be free.
Bibliography
1. Douglass, Frederick, ‘Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Written by Himself’, in David W. Blight, ed., Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Written by Himself with related documents, 2nd ed., New York, 2003.
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...﻿Summary: AmericanHistoryX
Derek Vinyard is paroled after being in prison for three years. The reason for prisoning is because of the murder of two thieves, who tried to steal his truck. Through a flash-back, his brother Daniel “Danny” had, we learned about Derek’s life. Derek was a leader of skinheads in L.A. and their white Nazi gang violently terrorized the opposite races. Derek’s actions had a very big influence on his younger brother, Daniel, who looked up to him and tried to follow in his brother’s footsteps. Derek’s time in prison opened his eyes and made him realize that in every race there can be good and bad. He somehow got enlightened and saw another road in his life. He just had to convince Danny, that there is another way to live, and another way to look at things. That way he wouldn’t end up as he did, just because of all his hatred and ignorance. Derek’s father got killed by a minority while he was in duty, which is why Derek’s vision started to blur and he believed everything he got told from his dad. At the end, Derek’s message was clear, and it finally reached Danny.
Overall Characterization: Vinyard family.
The movie AmericanHistoryX tells us the story of a torn apart family, by racism, hatred and blindness. The two main characters in the Vinyard family who are wreaking havoc between their families are the two brothers, Derek and Danny. These two become the...